As long as Asahi has lived, there has been a war between Mars and Earth.
Legend says it started as a fight for freedom for Mars from the United Earth Federation, but it’s been so long and vicious that no one left fighting knows the truth.
Asahi, a 5th generation native of Mars is a battle-hardened and experienced Mecha pilot, is currently preparing for the next invasion force from Earth.
New battles loom
As they prepare to face the largest force from Earth assembled in years, and with morals and power at their lowest, he fears it might be the last.
After years of losses and atrocities from both sides, his plan of long-needed repairs to his suit, and the prospect of regular showers and hot meals is the closest thing to his long-past youth in recent memory.
For as long as he can remember, Mars and its citizens has been under the boot of the UEF rule.
Relentlessly stripped for resources using forced labour, the colonists have been treated with distain almost since the day humans arrived on our celestial neighbour over 200 years ago.
A fight for resources
The mines of Mars provided resources long-exhausted on Earth and those that resided on the red rock were dependant on supplies to sustain the terraforming that allowed the Mars residents to survive.
What started as an opportunity of a new start off-world descended into subjugation as the mega-corporations sought to increase their margins on the precious resources.
The increasing brutality of the UEF’s ruling powers led to an uprising that claimed the lives of thousands, with the Territorial Guard cracking down on all dissident voices who simply wanted a better life for them and their kin.
An uprising begins
As rationing increased and brutality worsened, the Mars Freedom Corps were formed within the very mines the citizens were forced to toil in.
They had the numbers and the will, frantic for freedom from the tyranny their daily existence had become, but what they were missing was leadership.
One mistake that the UEF made was to begin using Mars as a penal colony, sending ‘unfavourable’ citizens from all corners of the Federation to be forgotten within its increasing number of gulags.
This included various former high-ranking military officials, scientists, engineers, scholars, and those deemed as ‘outsiders’, far removed from the elite for their views on EUF policy within the federation.
Within their ranks the assembled a resistance that would take the fight to their oppressors and strike back as a well organised militia, calling on all citizens that could help their cause.
There was no shortage of volunteers.
Mars stands up
The notion of loyalty to Earth and their forebears had been eroded from years of repression and mistreatment and it was time to take Mars for their own and make their former masters pay for their crimes.
What started with small strikes on UEF security outposts and high-ranking officials to unsettle them, descended into an all-out war after the rebels of the MFC assassinated the Earth’s reigning chief diplomat and his entire staff with a coordinated hyper-sonic strike.
The MFC had quietly amassed an arsenal that could take the UEF’s meagre military station on Mars swiftly, after years of complacency had set in within the federation leaving them vulnerable.
Their underestimation of the Mars inhabitants was only matched by their belief that maintaining power through fear would keep them in line.
War has raged ever since, with colossal losses on both sides and the increasing use of humanoid war machines, or Mechas, brought the battle into the space between the two neighbouring planets.
Mecha warfare
The original mechanical suits of armour were made from the very machines the Mars residents were using to do their masters bidding.
The increasing effectiveness of these immense machines led to more mighty and capable Mechas being created by both sides, each more deadly than the last, and rapidly became the weapon of choice in the ongoing battle.
Mecha training started for Asahi almost as he was able to walk and an aptitude for tactical warfare made his rise through the ranks swift.
Though he takes no pride in combat, his unmatched skill as a pilot and leader of troops has meant that rest is something that he cannot afford to take, if he is to remain free and keep his people alive.
Time is running out
After decades and countless millions of dead, there has finally been a break in the fighting and a time for both sides to collectively lick their wounds and bury their dead.
An insurgent strike at the main hydroponic station on Mars by UEF’s Titan spy network has stopped the MFC in its tracks.
The subsequent drought has led to a famine of unimaginable proportions, leading most to leave the planet in a desperate search for other habitable planets, with even the hardiest of MFC supporters acknowledging defeat.
Crimson Poison has recognised chance to strike at the heart of Mars and those who he perceives as the feeblest of any remaining opposition.
With unmatched technology and a flair for destruction, Poison knows he is unrivalled, and that swift and absolute dominance is within his grasp.